Friday, March 27, 2009

I would like a new perspective

Mustafa: [taking Ego's order] Do you know what you'd like this evening, sir?

Anton Ego: Yes, I think I do. After reading a lot of overheated puffery about your new cook, you know what I'm craving? A little perspective. That's it. I'd like some fresh, clear, well seasoned perspective. Can you suggest a good wine to go with that?

You may recognize the above dialogue from the movie Ratatouille. The dreaded food critic, Anton Ego has come to Gusteau's to review the work of the new chief and he asks for new perspective and gets it!

Since seeing this movie, when I am feeling baffled by a clinical situation or just plain stuck, I now ask my supervisors for "a new perspective". What they have to say is not always so easy for me to take in or even to understand. Their advice challenges my defenses (read "EGO") : "I should know this." "After all of these years why didn't I see this?" "What I have been doing couldn't be wrong?". It forces me to see dynamic and complex issues in a different way. And when I see my patient for our next session, I more often than not have a clearer sense of how to approach what we have been working on. And like Anton Ego, I'm surprised by what I find.

No comments:

Post a Comment